The outreach coordinator, Leah Dupre at www.DrugAbuse.com recently made me aware of a good resource that advances awareness and understanding of the impacts of substance use on diabetes.

Dr. Karen Vieira, PhD MSM has created “a comprehensive resource on the implications, contraindications and the latest research regarding substance abuse and diabetes.”
The link below will take you to, “..a comprehensive 6,000 word research piece, and it is the product of our shared desire to help prevent and treat harms associated with diabetes and substance abuse. It includes easily-understood graphic elements, 31 supporting citations of landmark research and authority sources (seen at the bottom) and answers for the most common questions regarding diabetes, alcohol and every major drug of abuse.”

"Researchers found that those who cooked dinner six to seven times a week ate an average of 2,164 calories daily, while those who ate out the most, cooking dinner no more than once a week, consumed an average of 2,301 calories per day." Read the rest of this entry »

In our stressed out hyper-driven world of rising global incidence of diabetes, it is always good news to discover evidence that inescapable habits (also known as “well established neural circuits”) can be helpful!

In this case researchers studied over a million coffee drinkers and concluded: “This study provides strong evidence that regular consumption of coffee is beneficial for prevention of diabetes.”

Those who consumed one cup daily demonstrated the best preventative effect with gradual decrease in benefit as the number of cups increases.

Affirmation of the Taoist proverb:

“Everything in moderation, Nothing in excess” (with the possible exception of moderation……)

Coffee, Even Decaf, Linked to Lower Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Nancy A. Melville

January 28, 2014

Coffee consumption is strongly associated with a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes, regardless of whether the coffee is caffeinated or not, according to a new meta-analysis of 28 prospective studies, published in the February issue of Diabetes Care.

“Compared with no coffee consumption…6 cups/day of coffee was associated with a 33% lower risk of type 2 diabetes,” the authors write, adding, “Caffeinated coffee and decaffeinated coffee consumption were both associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.”

Drinking coffee has been well-established in previous meta-analyses as being associated with a reduced risk for type 2 diabetes; however, the new review was needed to account for more recent trials evaluating the benefits of caffeinated vs decaffeinated coffee, the authors explain.

“We found that a 1-cup/day increment of regular coffee was associated with a 9% reduction in diabetes, and 1 cup/day of decaf was associated with 6% reduction in diabetes, but the difference in risk reduction between the 2 types of coffee was not statistically different,” said senior author Frank B. Hu, MD, PhD, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.

“This study provides strong evidence that regular consumption of coffee is beneficial for prevention of diabetes,” Dr. Hu told Medscape Medical News. “For individuals who already drink coffee, they may enjoy this and other potential health benefits, and for those who are sensitive to the effects of caffeine, decaf may confer similar benefits.”

Robust Findings

The 28 studies in the analysis included 1,109,272 participants, and all had the outcome of risk for type 2 diabetes; there were 45,335 cases of diabetes, with follow-up ranging from 10 months to 20 years.

The relative risk for type 2 diabetes with coffee consumption, compared with no or rare consumption, ranged from 0.92 for 1 cup per day, 0.85 for 2 cups, 0.79 for 3 cups, 0.75 for 4 cups, 0.71 for 5 cups, and 0.67 for 6 cups.

Meanwhile, the relative risk for diabetes associated with 1 cup of caffeinated coffee per day (compared to no or rare coffee consumption) was 0.91 compared with 0.94 for 1 cup of decaffeinated coffee per day ( P = .17).

The findings were consistent for men as well as women, and while coffee-brewing methods were not assessed in the studies, the inclusion of diverse populations likely covered a wide array of methods, the authors note.

“Most coffee is likely to be filtered coffee, and the results from studies conducted in various populations, including US, European, and Asian, were similar, indicating consistency of the results despite potentially different preparation and processing methods,” they observe.

And while none of the studies assessed levels of sugar and dairy added to coffee, the amounts are “likely to be small compared with other food sources,” they add.

While this meta-analysis does provide “strong evidence” that higher consumption of coffee is associated with a significantly lower risk for diabetes, “longer-term randomized controlled trials are needed to establish causality and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms,” they conclude.

Coffee Just a Small Part of the Diabetes Equation

One possible explanation for the reduced risk for diabetes with coffee consumption could be the role of chlorogenic acid, a phenolic compound and a major component of coffee, Dr. Hu said.

“Compounds in coffee also include antioxidant polyphenols, minerals such as magnesium and chromium, [and] vitamins; however, it is impossible to tease out the effects of individual compounds, because they don’t exist in isolation in coffee and they may have synergistic effects.”

He stressed also that coffee consumption remains a small piece of the picture.

“Coffee is only one of many dietary and lifestyle factors that can contribute to diabetes prevention. Clearly, maintaining a healthy weight through diet and exercise is the most important way to reduce risk of diabetes. For those who drink coffee regularly, they should enjoy it, but they still need to watch their weight and be physically active.”

The research received funding from the National Institutes of Health. The authors have reported no relevant financial relationships.

This article is self explanatory. Note the setting in which the study was done however. Seventh-Day Adventist Communities are atypically more cohesive than those of mainstream Americans. They also have been practicing social values that exemplify, “clean, spiritually intentional living” for several generations. BMI stands for base metabolism index.

Vegetarians Slimmer Than Meat-Eaters, Study Finds

A new study from Loma Linda University researchers shows an association between diet type and weight, with vegetarians having a lower body mass index than non-vegetarians. Interestingly, researchers found this association despite both groups in the study having similar caloric intake.

The Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics study is based on data from the Adventist Health Study 2, which includes dietary data from five groups: meat-eaters, semi-vegetarians (occasional meat-eaters), pesco-vegetarians (vegetarians who eat fish), lacto-ovo vegetarians (vegetarians who consume dairy) and vegans (who don’t consume any animal products). Data was collected between 2002 and 2007 from 71,751 Seventh-Day Adventist men and women, with an average age of 59.

Caloric intake was similar among all dietary patterns — about 2,000 calories a day — with the one exception being the semi-vegetarians, who consumed 1,707 calories a day.

Researchers found that average BMI was lowest among vegans, while average BMI was highest among the meat-eaters. Looking specifically at obesity (defined as having a BMI over 30), researchers found that vegans had the lowest percentage of people who were obese — just 9.4 percent — while meat-eaters had the highest percentage of people who were obese — 33.3 percent. About 24 percent of semi-vegetarians were obese, 17.9 percent of pesco-vegetarians were obese, and 16.7 percent of lacto-ovo vegetarians were obese.

Even though calorie intake was similar across all the groups, there were differences in the types of nutrients consumed. Meat-eaters had the lowest intake of plant proteins, beta carotene, fiber and magnesium, and the highest intake of heart disease-linked fatty acids.

Of course, diet isn’t the only factor in weight — the study didn’t examine other factors, such as exercise or socioeconomic status. It merely showed an association between eating patterns and weight, not a cause-and-effect relationship.